Here's the deal:

In return for volunteering each of the three days for 6 hours each day (the earliest you would be working is 10am, and the latest 9pm), either petitioning on the Waste Reduction Bill, working the Cup Refund Points or engaging festival-goers on what waste goes in what bin, you get -

We will be posting one article a week in July around ways you can reduce the amount of plastic in your day-to-day life! Let us know how you're getting on on Twitter by using the hashtag #SickOfPlastic.

Written by Chloe Healy

If you are reading this article today and/or taking part in our Plastic Free July challenge, then it’s fair to say that you are already aware of the serious challenges plastic pollution poses to human health and the environment. But do we really understand why its a problem, what exactly makes plastic so harmful and how it is linked to climate change?

On Tuesday, the Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action will hold hearings on a Bill to ban exploration for more gas off the Irish coast [1]. The Committee has to decide whether to kill the Bill or progress it to the next stage.

Not Here Not Anywhere (NHNA), a grassroots campaigning group working to protect Ireland's coasts from fossil fuel drilling, have been working tirelessly on this campaign for a year, and will be presenting a petiton to the Chair of this committee tomorrow afternoon.

Marion Briggs joined us earlier this year as a volunteer, due to her enthusiasm she quickly became the driving force in planning the Sick of Plastic day of action on April 21st. Marion has since joined our board, a joyful member of the team.

Along with a number of Sick of Plastic campaigners, Marion has taken on the Plastic Free July challenge to try and refuse single use plastics. Spending her Summer back in her hometown in California, Marion shares her ups and downs of trying to live without plastic.

Next Thursday July 12th, Ireland could become the first country in the world to fully divest from fossil fuels. But the thing is, we need TDs to actually be there to vote. We, those campaigning for progressive action on climate, know how important this is, but the reality is that TDs have lots of other issues to contend with. Unfortunately, they might not show up and vote unless they're asked by their constituents.

Will you take 30 seconds to ask your TDs to be there to vote for a strong Divestment Bill?

We will be posting one article a week in July around ways you can reduce the amount of plastic in your day-to-day life! Let us know how you're getting on on Twitter by using the hashtag #SickOfPlastic.

Written by Chloe Healy

This month is Plastic Free July - a global campaign to create awareness around plastic pollution and to empower people to seek alternatives to single use plastics. The challenge is simple - choose to refuse single use plastics for the month of July and encourage your friends, family, wider community, local businesses and corporations to do the same!

Back in 2010, when environmental photographer and activist Luka Tomac began the journey of documenting stories from the front lines of climate change, the realities of the crisis were not yet mainstream. Though the harmful impacts of climate change had been known for decades, the understanding of just how fast these challenges will confront people still seemed far into the distant future. Over the past eight years, Tomac, a Croatian native, has visited more than 20 countries to document stories of resistance and solutions to climate change through photographs and interviews of impacted people and communities.

Thanks to our supporters, we’ve been making great progress this year to turn the tide on plastic pollution in Ireland.

Last week, over 2,000 of them emailed the Oireachtas Environment Committee to make sure they didn’t let Minister Denis Naughten water down the Waste Reduction Bill to indefinitely delay a national deposit and return scheme.

Laws are rarely simple. We know that from our work pushing through 2015’s Climate Law [1]. Words carry a weight that we rarely see in day-to-day life, with just a small tweak causing a flurrying cascade of consequences down the line.

That’s why our ears pricked up when we learnt that Minister Denis Naughten has been manoeuvring behind the scenes to dilute the wording of a draft law for a deposit and return scheme for plastic bottles and aluminium cans [2]. Naughten wants to change the word ‘shall’ to ‘may’ in the report the Environment Committee is finalizing on the proposal.